ah/ awe

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Here is my perception of the situation in Pittsburgh.

In (say) Chicago, in my experience, there are usually two distinct vowels
in "Don" and "Dawn": say, "Don" /dan/ 'unrounded', "Dawn" /dOn/ 'rounded'.

In stereotypical Pittsburgh pronunciation, to my ear, "Don" and "Dawn" are
both /dOn/. Pittsburghers regard them as sounding the same. They both sound
(to me) like Chicago "Dawn".

This does not by any means imply that stereotypical Pittsburghers have any
trouble saying /dan/ or distinguishing it from /dOn/. Pittsburghers say
/dan/ (which sounds to me the same as Chicago "Don") all the time: but it's
spelled "down" (this is a sort of local shibboleth, I guess).

-- Doug Wilson


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